It was the source of every word he spoke, every song he sang, every aspiration the 17-year-old Elm Park resident held, including his dream of one day opening his own auto electronics business.

But to his family's horror, Jesse's brain was missing when he was buried after a fatal Jan. 9, 2005, crash in Westerleigh. Jesse and his sister, Shannon, then 14, who survived the wreck, were passengers in one of the vehicles.

His relatives learned the truth only two months later, when, in a macabre coincidence, Port Richmond High School forensic-science students on a field trip to the Richmond County Mortuary saw a specimen jar of a brain, labeled with Jesse's name. The students were Shannon's mates and informed her of their findings.

Told by a priest that Jesse's burial was not proper without the remaining body parts, his family had to endure another anguishing funeral service.

After nearly six agonizing years, the Shipleys recently received a measure of positive news.

An appellate court panel has determined they can sue the city for damages.

In a unanimous ruling, Justice William F. Mastro said the medical examiner's office should have advised the Shipleys, on releasing Jesse's body for burial, that his brain was being retained for further study.

"While the medical examiner has the statutory authority to ... perform an autopsy ... and to remove and retain bodily organs for further examination and testing ... he or she, also has the mandated obligation ... to turn over the decedent's remains to the next of kin for preservation and proper burial once the legitimate purposes for retention of those remains have been fulfilled," wrote Mastro.

That latter duty could have been satisfied in this case, Mastro said, simply by telling the family that while the body was available for burial, an organ was being held. Armed with such information, they could have decided whether to hold the burial until the brain was available, or proceed without it.

The case now returns to Justice Thomas P. Aliotta in state Supreme Court, St. George.

Marvin Ben-Aron, the Shipleys' lawyer, said the family is gratified by the ruling.

"Needless to say, I agree with the overall decision that there was a violation by retaining the brain without notifying the family," said Ben-Aron, an associate in the West Brighton firm of Ameduri, Galante & Friscia.

However, Ben-Aron said he was disappointed the ruling gives the coroner, in his estimation, "an unfettered right" to retain bodily organs.

The court denied the Shipleys' motion to sue for additional damages arising from what they alleged was the brain's public display.

Ronald Sternberg, a senior appellate counsel for the city Law Department, said the city is evaluating its legal options.

The court, Sternberg noted, found it was within the medical examiner's discretion to perform the autopsy. It also determined the brain was simply kept in a cabinet with other specimens awaiting further examination and wasn't mishandled and publicly displayed as the Shipleys allege.

According to Advance reports, Jesse and Shannon were riding in a Mercedes-Benz that collided with an SUV at Jewett and College avenues in Westerleigh. The force of the impact drove the Mercedes into a utility pole, crushing the back seat where Jesse was sitting. Shannon, the front-seat passenger, suffered minor physical injuries.

Mastro said an autopsy was performed the next day, with the permission of Andre Shipley, Jesse and Shannon's father. The funeral home collected the body from the medical examiner's Staten Island office later on Jan. 10, 2005, and the funeral service and burial were held three days later, court records said.

The medical examiner determined Jesse died of multiple blunt impacts to the head, producing skull fractures and hemorrhages. Even so, his brain was removed for further study, although the family was not told that, said court records.

The Shipleys became aware only two months later, when students on a morgue field trip saw the brain in a labeled jar of formaldehyde solution. The specimen was in a cabinet containing jars with specimens of various human organs.

A day or two after the class trip, doctors from the chief medical examiner's office traveled to the borough to dissect and examine the brain, confirming the original autopsy findings.

Asked to explain the two-month delay between the autopsy and brain probe, the acting deputy chief medical examiner on Staten Island said he typically waited months until he had six brains to have the studies performed.

"Then it's kind of worth [the examiner's] while to make the trip to Staten Island to examine the six brains," he testified. "It doesn't make sense for him to come and do one."

Ben-Aron, the lawyer, said Shannon Shipley previously settled a separate personal injury case for $60,000 with the owners and drivers of the two vehicles.

State Supreme Court Justice Joseph J. Maltese ruled Shannon was an "immediate family" member and therefore entitled to sue for emotional distress as a result of watching her brother die.